Mail HAS SACKED Katie Hopkins

[Update at end of post]

Back in June, Zelo Street told that Mail Online had taken the decision to sack pro-am motormouth Katie Hopkins. Why this had come to pass was not a difficult one to figure out:  “After losing a libel action brought by writer and campaigner Jack Monroe, she then lost her LBC show after responding to the Manchester bombing by asserting there should be a ‘final solution’ - thus echoing the language of the Third Reich and the Holocaust”.

Viewers may still want to look away now

I also mentioned that “my information is that LBC had made the decision to part company with her some months back. The outburst of Islamophobic bigotry after the Manchester attack merely caused push to come to shove rather sooner than had been intended”. And then came Mail Online: “It appears that there was a meeting, most likely at the Northcliffe House bunker, attended by [her], with not merely Mail people, but also lawyers, present”.

The result of that meeting? “Katie Hopkins is to be effectively sacked by Mail Online”. But note “effectively”: I was informed that her contract, which was thought to have expired earlier this month, would be allowed to run down and then not renewed - the same thing that happened when she left the Murdoch Sun.

So “There will be no talk of sacking. The language used will tell of people voluntarily going their separate ways. There will be talk of taking on new projects. Both parties will agree that they part on the best of terms. But it will be no different to a sacking”. Well, there has not even been talk of people going their separate ways or moving on to pastures new. But it can now be revealed that Hatey Katie has left the building.

Ms Hopkins’ last Mail Online column was on October 5, bearing the wibbling title “My wedding dress and why Brexit isn’t the only unfair divorce blighting Britain”. Yes, it made no sense, and nor did she - no change there, then. But she was allowed one last article in a real Mail title: the Mail on Sunday ran “Why I won't let doctors give my 8-year-old son Max the flu vaccine at school” on October 8. And that was it.

And that is why Hatey Katie has been desperately scratching around for revenue generating ideas in the past few weeks, including a schools tour which appears to have come to nothing. Despite her being fêted by the likes of Fox News Channel (fair and balanced my arse), she still has her earlier libel loss hanging over her, along with the six-figure dent in her finances, with rumours that it might not be the only one.

But there was always her new book, wasn’t there? Maybe not: “Katie Hopkins was forced to cancel a talk about her new book last night after protesters descended on the Sussex town where she was due to appear … More than 100 activists took to the streets of Lewes, parading with banners and chanting slogans before it was announced the controversial columnist would no longer be appearing” told the Mirror today.

Sadly, “the event was pulled after Police became concerned for the safety of the former Apprentice contestant”. She will blether about freedom of speech. But protesters also  have the freedom to make their views known. It’s another glorious failure.

The reality is that Katie Hopkins is all washed up. Just rejoice at that news.

[UPDATE 27 November 1335 hours: Press Gazette has now confirmed that this post is correct.

They have told "Controversial columnist Katie Hopkins has left Mail Online ... In a statement to Press Gazette, a Mail Online spokesperson said: 'Katie’s contract was not renewed by mutual consent' ... Hopkins’ last column was published on 5 October about her decision to wear a wedding dress to the Conservative Party conference". Exactly as I posted yesterday.

The decision not to renew her contract, though, had been taken by the start of June - as I said at the time. Good to see the mainstream press catching up with Zelo Street, and Mail Online being forced into coming clean about their decision.

You read it here first. As the saying goes, let that sink in]